Process engineering

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Process engineering is the understanding and application of the fundamental
principles and laws of nature that allow humans to transform raw
material and energy into products that are useful to society, at an industrial level.[1] By
taking advantage of the driving forces of nature such
as pressure, temperature and concentration gradients, as well as the law of
conservation of mass, process engineers can develop methods to synthesize and purify
large quantities of desired chemical products. [1] Process engineering focuses on the
design, operation, control, optimization and intensification of chemical, physical, and
biological processes. Process engineering encompasses a vast range of industries,
such as agriculture, automotive, biotechnical, chemical, food, material
development, mining, nuclear, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and software
development. The application of systematic computer-based methods to process
engineering is "process systems engineering".

Overview[edit]
Process engineering involves the utilization of multiple tools and methods. Depending
on the exact nature of the system, processes need to be simulated and modeled using
mathematics and computer science. Processes where phase change and phase
equilibria are relevant require analysis using the principles and laws of thermodynamics
to quantify changes in energy and efficiency. In contrast, processes that focus on the
flow of material and energy as they approach equilibria are best analyzed using the
disciplines of fluid mechanics and transport phenomena. Disciplines within the field of
mechanics need to be applied in the presence of fluids or porous and dispersed media.
Materials engineering principles also need to be applied, when relevant. [1]

Manufacturing in the field of process engineering involves an implementation of process

synthesis steps.[2] Regardless of the exact tools required, process engineering is then
formatted through the use of a process flow diagram (PFD) where material flow paths,
storage equipment (such as tanks and silos), transformations (such as distillation
columns, receiver/head tanks, mixing, separations, pumping, etc.) and flowrates are
specified, as well as a list of all pipes and conveyors and their contents, material
properties such as density, viscosity, particle-size distribution, flowrates, pressures,
temperatures, and materials of construction for the piping and unit operations.[1]

The process flow diagram is then used to develop a piping and instrumentation
diagram (P&ID) which graphically displays the actual process occurring. P&ID are
meant to be more complex and specific than a PFD. [3] They represent a less muddled
approach to the design. The P&ID is then used as a basis of design for developing the
"system operation guide" or "functional design specification" which outlines the
operation of the process.[4] It guides the process through operation of machinery, safety
in design, programming and effective communication between engineers. [5]

From the P&ID, a proposed layout (general arrangement) of the process can be shown
from an overhead view (plot plan) and a side view (elevation), and other engineering
disciplines are involved such as civil engineers for site work (earth moving), foundation
design, concrete slab design work, structural steel to support the equipment, etc. All
previous work is directed toward defining the scope of the project, then developing a
cost estimate to get the design installed, and a schedule to communicate the timing
needs for engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, commissioning, startup,
and ongoing production of the process.

Depending on needed accuracy of the cost estimate and schedule that is required,
several iterations of designs are generally provided to customers or stakeholders who
feed back their requirements. The process engineer incorporates these additional
instructions (scope revisions) into the overall design and additional cost estimates, and
schedules are developed for funding approval. Following funding approval, the project is
executed via project management.[6]

Principal areas of focus in process engineering[edit]

Process engineering activities can be divided into the following disciplines: [7]

 Process design: synthesis of energy recovery networks, synthesis

of distillation systems (azeotropic), synthesis of reactor networks, hierarchical
decomposition flowsheets, superstructure optimization, design multiproduct batch
 plants, design of the production reactors for the production of plutonium, design of
nuclear submarines.
 Process control: model predictive control, controllability measures, robust control,
nonlinear control, statistical process control, process monitoring, thermodynamics-
based control, denoted by three essential items, a collection of measurements,
method of taking measurements, and a system of controlling the desired
measurement.[8]
 Process operations: scheduling process networks, multiperiod planning and
optimization, data reconciliation, real-time optimization, flexibility measures, fault
diagnosis.
 Supporting tools: sequential modular simulation, equation-based process
simulation, AI/expert systems, large-scale nonlinear programming (NLP),
optimization of differential algebraic equations (DAEs), mixed-integer nonlinear
programming (MINLP),[9] global optimization, optimization under uncertainty, [10][11] and
quality function deployment (QFD).[12]
 Process Economics:[13] This includes using simulation software such as ASPEN,
Super-Pro to find out the break even point, net present value, marginal sales,
marginal cost, return on investment of the industrial plant after the analysis of the
heat and mass transfer of the plant.[13]
 Process Data Analytics: Applying data analytics and machine learning methods for
process manufacturing problems.[14][15]

History of process engineering[edit]

Various chemical techniques have been used in industrial processes since time
immemorial. However, it wasn't until the advent of thermodynamics and the law of
conservation of mass in the 1780s that process engineering was properly developed
and implemented as its own discipline. The set of knowledge that is now known as
process engineering was then forged out of trial and error throughout the industrial
revolution.[1]

The term process, as it relates to industry and production, dates back to the 18th
century. During this time period, demands for various products began to drastically
increase, and process engineers were required to optimize the process in which these
products were created.[1]

By 1980, the concept of process engineering emerged from the fact that chemical
engineering techniques and practices were being used in a variety of industries. By this
time, process engineering had been defined as "the set of knowledge necessary to
design, analyze, develop, construct, and operate, in an optimal way, the processes in
which the material changes".[1] By the end of the 20th century, process engineering had
expanded from chemical engineering-based technologies to other applications,
including metallurgical engineering, agricultural engineering, and product engineering.
 Chemical engineering
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chemical engineers design, construct and operate

process plants (fractionating columns pictured).
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation
and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical
engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials into
useful products. Chemical engineering uses principles of chemistry, physics,
mathematics, biology, and economics to efficiently use, produce, design, transport and
transform energy and materials. The work of chemical engineers can range from the
utilization of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in the laboratory to large-scale
industrial processes that convert chemicals, raw materials, living cells, microorganisms,
and energy into useful forms and products. Chemical engineers are involved in many
aspects of plant design and operation, including safety and hazard
assessments, process design and analysis, modeling, control engineering, chemical
reaction engineering, nuclear engineering, biological engineering, construction
specification, and operating instructions.

Chemical engineers typically hold a degree in Chemical Engineering or Process

Engineering. Practicing engineers may have professional certification and be accredited
members of a professional body. Such bodies include the Institution of Chemical
Engineers (IChemE) or the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). A degree
in chemical engineering is directly linked with all of the other engineering disciplines, to
various extents.

Etymology[edit]

George E. Davis

A 1996 article cites James F. Donnelly for mentioning an 1839 reference to chemical
engineering in relation to the production of sulfuric acid.[1] In the same paper,
however, George E. Davis, an English consultant, was credited with having coined the
term.[2] Davis also tried to found a Society of Chemical Engineering, but instead, it was
named the Society of Chemical Industry (1881), with Davis as its first
secretary.[3][4] The History of Science in United States: An Encyclopedia puts the use of
the term around 1890.[5] "Chemical engineering", describing the use of mechanical
equipment in the chemical industry, became common vocabulary in England after
1850.[6] By 1910, the profession, "chemical engineer," was already in common use in
Britain and the United States.[7]
History[edit]
Main article: History of chemical engineering

New concepts and innovations[edit]

Demonstration model of a direct-methanol fuel cell. The actual

fuel cell stack is the layered cube shape in the center of the image.

In the 1940s, it became clear that unit operations alone were insufficient in
developing chemical reactors. While the predominance of unit operations in chemical
engineering courses in Britain and the United States continued until the 1960s, transport
phenomena started to receive greater focus.[8] Along with other novel concepts, such
as process systems engineering (PSE), a "second paradigm" was defined. [9][10] Transport
phenomena gave an analytical approach to chemical engineering [11] while PSE focused
on its synthetic elements, such as those of a control system and process
design.[12] Developments in chemical engineering before and after World War II were
mainly incited by the petrochemical industry;[13] however, advances in other fields were
made as well. Advancements in biochemical engineering in the 1940s, for example,
found application in the pharmaceutical industry, and allowed for the mass production of
various antibiotics, including penicillin and streptomycin.[14] Meanwhile, progress
in polymer science in the 1950s paved way for the "age of plastics". [15]

Safety and hazard developments[edit]

Concerns regarding large-scale chemical manufacturing facilities' safety and
environmental impact were also raised during this period. Silent Spring, published in
1962, alerted its readers to the harmful effects of DDT, a potent insecticide.[16] The
1974 Flixborough disaster in the United Kingdom resulted in 28 deaths, as well as
damage to a chemical plant and three nearby villages.[17] 1984 Bhopal disaster in India
resulted in almost 4,000 deaths.[citation needed] These incidents, along with other incidents,
affected the reputation of the trade as industrial safety and environmental
protection were given more focus.[18] In response, the IChemE required safety to be part
of every degree course that it accredited after 1982. By the 1970s, legislation and
 monitoring agencies were instituted in various countries, such as France, Germany, and
the United States.[19] In time, the systematic application of safety principles to chemical
and other process plants began to be considered a specific discipline, known
as process safety.[20]

Recent progress[edit]
Advancements in computer science found applications for designing and managing
plants, simplifying calculations and drawings that previously had to be done manually.
The completion of the Human Genome Project is also seen as a major development,
not only advancing chemical engineering but genetic engineering and genomics as
well.[21] Chemical engineering principles were used to produce DNA sequences in large
quantities.[22]

Concepts[edit]
Part of a series on

Chemical engineering

 Outline
 History
 Index

Fundamentals

 Industry
 Engineer
 Process
 Unit operations
 Kinetics
 Transport phenomena

Unit processes

 Chemical plant
 Chemical reactor
 Separation processes
 Aspects

 Heat transfer
 Mass transfer
 Fluid dynamics

Process design
 Process control
 Chemical thermodynamics
 Reaction engineering

Glossaries

 Glossary of chemistry
 Glossary of engineering
o A–L
o M–Z

Category

 v
 t
 e

Chemical engineering involves the application of several principles. Key concepts are
presented below.

Plant design and construction[edit]

Chemical engineering design concerns the creation of plans, specifications, and
economic analyses for pilot plants, new plants, or plant modifications. Design engineers
often work in a consulting role, designing plants to meet clients' needs. Design is limited
by several factors, including funding, government regulations, and safety standards.
These constraints dictate a plant's choice of process, materials, and equipment. [23]

Plant construction is coordinated by project engineers and project

managers,[24] depending on the size of the investment. A chemical engineer may do the
job of project engineer full-time or part of the time, which requires additional training and
job skills or act as a consultant to the project group. In the USA the education of
chemical engineering graduates from the Baccalaureate programs accredited
by ABET do not usually stress project engineering education, which can be obtained by
specialized training, as electives, or from graduate programs. Project engineering jobs
are some of the largest employers for chemical engineers.[25]
Process design and analysis[edit]
Main article: Process design

A unit operation is a physical step in an individual chemical engineering process. Unit

operations (such as crystallization, filtration, drying and evaporation) are used to
prepare reactants, purifying and separating its products, recycling unspent reactants,
and controlling energy transfer in reactors. [26] On the other hand, a unit process is the
chemical equivalent of a unit operation. Along with unit operations, unit processes
constitute a process operation. Unit processes (such as nitration, hydrogenation,
and oxidation involve the conversion of materials by biochemical, thermochemical and
other means. Chemical engineers responsible for these are called process engineers.[27]

Process design requires the definition of equipment types and sizes as well as how they
are connected and the materials of construction. Details are often printed on a Process
Flow Diagram which is used to control the capacity and reliability of a new or existing
chemical factory.

Education for chemical engineers in the first college degree 3 or 4 years of study
stresses the principles and practices of process design. The same skills are used in
existing chemical plants to evaluate the efficiency and make recommendations for
improvements.

Transport phenomena[edit]
Main article: Transport phenomena

Modeling and analysis of transport phenomena is essential for many industrial

applications. Transport phenomena involve fluid dynamics, heat transfer and mass
transfer, which are governed mainly by momentum transfer, energy transfer and
transport of chemical species, respectively. Models often involve separate
considerations for macroscopic, microscopic and molecular level phenomena. Modeling
of transport phenomena, therefore, requires an understanding of applied mathematics. [28]

Applications and practice[edit]

Chemical engineers use computers to control automated

systems in plants.[29]

Chemical engineers "develop economic ways of using materials and

energy".[30] Chemical engineers use chemistry and engineering to turn raw materials into
usable products, such as medicine, petrochemicals, and plastics on a large-scale,
industrial setting. They are also involved in waste management and research.[31][32] Both
applied and research facets could make extensive use of computers. [29]

Chemical engineers may be involved in industry or university research where they are
tasked with designing and performing experiments, by scaling up theoretical chemical
reactions, to create better and safer methods for production, pollution control, and
resource conservation. They may be involved in designing and constructing plants as
a project engineer. Chemical engineers serving as project engineers use their
knowledge in selecting optimal production methods and plant equipment to minimize
costs and maximize safety and profitability. After plant construction, chemical
engineering project managers may be involved in equipment upgrades, troubleshooting,
and daily operations in either full-time or consulting roles. [33]